It’s time to get savvy about tanning for yourself and your niece.  You may love that bronzy look, Auntie, but it is hazardous to your health.  Skin cancer is the most common occurring cancer in the US: more common than the number of cases of breast, prostate, colon, and lung cancer combined!

A new study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology finds an even greater danger of tanning beds than previously thought.  Indoor tanning beds predominately use UVA1 ultraviolet rays, which are longer than UVB rays and penetrate into deeper layers of the skin. UVA1 rays cause more damage to the deep basal layer of the skin, where the shorter UVB rays cannot reach.  These cellular changes in this deeper layer of the skin are associated with changes seen in skin cancer. You don’t have to get sunburn to put yourself at risk for skin cancer.  Tanning with these deep penetrating UVA rays causes aging and wrinkling which is a sign of skin damage and potential risk for skin cancer.

The indoor tanning industry is a $5 billion a year business with about 30 million people going to salons every year in the US.  2.3 million of these are teens. The FDA is now considering banning the use of tanning beds by children younger than 18 years of age.  It is already prohibited in some European countries.  The positive claims made by Indoor Tanning Association, their trade association, about ultraviolet radiation and the importance of vitamin D is misleading and self-serving. 

There is no dispute that some sunlight is required for our body to synthesize Vitamin D. There is no dispute that Vitamin D is very beneficial and a key hormone required for strong bones, a healthy immune system, and has been shown to protect against some cancers such as colon cancer. There are safer ways to obtain it.  Most experts feel that we probably get enough sunlight to produce vitamin D in a normal day going back and forth to work or running errands. However if your levels are low you can eat fortified foods or take a supplement. Foods such as milk, cereal, orange juice, tuna, salmon, eggs, beef liver or cod liver oil all are high in vitamin D. 

This new study just provides more ammunition that tanning is not worth the risk, be it outside or especially indoors. But if your niece must have that golden glow for the homecoming dance, be a sun Savvy Auntie and take her to get a spray-on-tan at the salon.


Published: October 19, 2011